And so he waits
by Secoluna
Summary: One-shot. Post-movie fic. "He is waiting. Always waiting". Slight Alice/Tarrant.


_Sometimes we have to choose between what is reason and what is insanity. You chose reasons._

The mad man: _"I will regret not seeing you again especially now that you are you and proper size"._

Hatter loves tea. Green tea, black tea, white tea, orange tea, purple tea, pu-erh tea, tea mas tea, herbal tea, earl grey tea, oolong tea, tea with cake, tea with scones and tea with no scones,tea tea, no-tea tea time- flavoured tea.

He sits there waiting and waiting. Just waiting. The spring on the seat uncomfortably poking him, always reminding him that yes, he is waiting. He stares out beyond the table into the sky. It is never grey in Underland – dark yes, but never grey.

He's thinking of things – things starting with A. Absolute, Always, Adulation, Attachment, Attainment, Anger, Afraid.

Afraid.

(_What are you afraid of Hatter - the answer or the question?_ Question? What question? There are a million of questions – why is the raven like a writing desk? How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck can chuck wood? What occurs in every minute, twice in every moment but never in a thousand years? _This is the problem. You did not ask the question. You did not ask her to stay, it was merely a suggestion._**Coward**.Am not._Are to_Am not._Are to_.Am not._Are to_Am not._Are to_. She'll be back).

_That is not an answer, Hatter._

So, he waits.

He sighs and shifts his weight. Time refuse to indulge him (old grudges and bad blood, you know).It is impossibly slow and tedious this waiting thing. He feels every minute, playing on his bones._ It's still your fault._ You could have done could have saved them. Their hats will never be made. But the Queen..._How patriotic,how noble._You ran away, is still red.

They're drinking tea and the Thackery is rambling about futterwacken purple pigs and fireflies that fulfill unfulfilled promises. (She'll be back,_ no she won't_ , yes she will,_ no she won't,_ she'll be back, _no she won't. Hope is a dangerous thing, Hatter._)

He replays it all over again like a nursery rhyme.(_Bobby Shafto's gone to sea, Silver buckles on his knee; He'll come back and marry me, Bonny Bobby Shafto!)_

_"You could stay."_  
(Hope, Regret) He doesn't know if it is meant as a question, a promise, a wish or a plead.  
_"What an idea. A crazy mad wonderful idea. But I can't there are questions that I have to answer, things I have to do."_  
Ignorance is bliss, ignore it. She was not mad. Not yet. She is afraid to fall (oops, too late for that- hello, rabbit hole). She is still young. It's Logic's reason.  
_"Be back again before you know it. "_  
(No, she won't. He knows it, she knows it).  
_"You won't remember me".  
"Of course I will"._  
Liar.  
_"How could I forget?"_  
(You did the first time, Alice).  
How could she be cruel to drink it so quickly, without a second thought, without a pause. (Down, down, her throat and up the rabbit hole).

_"Fairfarren Alice."_  
May you travel far under fair skies.(_All the Queen's horses, and all the Queen's men couldn't put __Hatter__ Humpty together again._)

His tea is cold. Thackery and Mallymkin are grumbling about the White Queen's party. The Queen wanted white (not red, orange or green) doves released at the party. She must have white because no one really pays attention to white doves and you don't want to see sad doves, do you?(Cue in eyelashes and charming smile).

He nods. He smiles. He's not really listening. Is he really here, he wonders. Here, where is here if here is in everywhere. And if here is not here and here is in there then what becomes of everywhere. In conclusion, he must be here.

He giggles.

Maybe she won't be back. (_You're not real_).Maybe she is right. This is not real. We're all just pieces of a puzzle she calls her mind. (What a great mind.) But... how could it be when this feels real? The thumping of his chest, the orange sky, the muttering of flowers that can talk, the cuts that graze his hands, the smell of burnt material and the cold handle of the tea cup. He feels real. He 's the most real imagination, he thinks.

**"SHE IS GIRL! HOW DARE HER!"**

Mallymkin jumps into her tea cup and Thackery wraps his ears around his neck nervously. They're both watching 's just another show.

Thackery sips his tea tentatively as his eyes dart side to ,again.

But then, she'll be back. She'll have something she needs to run away from (_it was about moving to London, it was about marrying Hamish_).

He is waiting. Always waiting.

* * *

The female sidekick: _"I come to free the Hatter on my own. I don't need any help"._

Mallymkun admits it, she is a bit mad. (Madly in love).

She is waiting. She is waiting for him to wake up from the whispers of "I'll be back"s and "how could I forget?"s.

She knew.

She knew he was glad to see her. She knew it was more than "glad to see her".  
She didn't really believe until now (_"Mally, just Alice"_). She stares at him from across the enormous table. Grey, he's always grey. His green eyes are focused somewhere else. His mind is wandering and taking holiday trips. He's mad (madder, maddest).

She did not know when she first realised it. Perhaps, it was when he carelessly disregarded the tea (not THE tea!) as he rushed to greet the was it when he stood defiantly next to her in battle? No maybe when he was willing to offer his life in return for hers?(_Mally,just Aliceccccc_ is drowning her head).

No, she thinks. It was when he whispered _Fairfarren Alice_.

It was was a moment was a maybe and a what if.  
Hours later when no-one is looking, he stands there on the giant black and white tiles. His hand palm up, just waiting. He seemed like he was trying to capture the last wisp of Alice. It was days and nights before Chessur finally got him to move.

Pathetic.

She was from the Overland and they were all about reason, logic and sense. They scoffed and snickered at anything that tasted like absurdity or delirium (gallymoggers, they all are). The girl was born out of sanity. Mallymkun was not surprised she left.

She _knew_ the Hatter well. She knew the Hatter the most. She could stop him from spiral of madness and words of was there when he was falling into the pits of delirium. She was there when his world turned red. She knew HE could kill. She's seen it. What does this overly large girl have that she does not have?

She was really mad. Mad to wait.

* * *

The lost girl of Underland: _"I will miss when you I wake up"._

Alice is waiting. She does not know what for. (She is young, she does not recognise it). She stares out beyond the vast ocean into the sky. She is waiting for it to hit her.

She shivers.

Curiouser and curiouser. She cannot work out her problem. She knows she is waiting but she does not know what for. She has gone through all her list. Yes, her package from mother has arrived, the papers that need signing is with Lord Ascot, the profit from last year's accounts arrived and the food for another voyage is here. (Maybe, it's time to wake up Alice.)

She sighs.

A man, tall and slightly mad asked her to marry him while boarding the coast of China. (He is not the right mad man).

_Will it take me home? If you must choose._  
Home. For a glimpse, for a second, she did not know where that was. Home, where was home? What is home? She was logical and poise. She was about doing the right thing. She empties the vial in one gulp.

She says yes.

Hatter sips his tea. She is late. Always late.


End file.
